Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 9 T he American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) recently announced that 12 hours of its Optical Forum Courses have been approved by the American Board of Opticianry (ABO) for Continuing Education credits. The courses will be offered at the annual ASCRS•ASOA Symposium and Con- gress, March 25-29, 2011, in San Diego. "This is a first," said ASOA Presi- dent Vonda Syler, COE, "nowhere else can opticians earn credit at a na- tional ophthalmic meeting as they can at the ASOA Congress. An entire practice staff can attend the confer- January 2011 Multifocal IOLs in children José A. Cristóbal, M.D., Ph.D., León Remón, M.D., Ph.D., Ma Ángeles Del Buey, M.D., Robert Montés-Micó, Ph.D. In this prospective clinical trial investigators set out to determine how children with unilateral cataract fared with implantation of apodized diffractive multifocal intraocular lenses. For the study, the AcrySof ReSTOR SN60D3 was implanted in the eyes of five children between the ages of four and six. Investigators here determined that the mean uncorrected distance visual acuity at final follow up was 0.45 logMAR and the mean corrected distance visual acuity was .3 logMAR. Corrected distance acuity ranged from 20/63 in one eye to 20/32 in three eyes. When it came to corrected near acuity, patients had a mean of 20/25. A binocular function test showed that four pa- tients had fusion. None complained of glare and halos. Investigators concluded that for children with unilateral cataracts implantation of an apodized multifocal IOL was a reasonable alternative to use of a monofocal lens. Comparison of photochromic, yellow, and clear IOL under different lighting conditions Haiwei Wang, M.A., Jun Wang, M.D., Wenying Fan, M.A., Wenying Wang, M.D. The aim here in this prospective comparative clinical study was to determine how a regular yellow blue light-filtering and a clear ultra- violet-filtering lens compared with the first blue light-filtering pho- tochromic lens under various lighting conditions. Patients here received either the photochromic Aurium Matrix acrylic lens, a yel- low AF-1 lens, or a clear MC61MI lens. At the three-month mark, in- vestigators determined that all three IOLs fared equally in terms of uncorrected and corrected distance acuity, contrast sensitivity and questionnaire responses. However when it came to color vision, at 30 lux investigators determined that the photochromic group fared significantly better than the yellow IOL group and also had better contrast vision at the five percent mark. Investigators did not find any differences, however, between the photochromic and the clear IOL groups. The conclusion reached here was that under photopic conditions all three IOLs performed well. However, in mesopic light- ing use of the yellow IOL resulted in poor contrast sensitivity and color vision. Review/update: Phakic Intraocular Lenses, Part 2 Thomas Kohnen, M.D., Ph.D., F.E.B.O., Daniel Kook, M.D., Merce Morral, M.D., Jose Luis Güell, M.D. The results and potential complications associated with current pha- kic intraocular lenses (pIOLs), are highlighted here in the second half of this two-part review. While the first part of the review used intraocular position to categorize three different types of IOLs, in- vestigators here in the second delved into complications and deter- mined that these are related to the pIOL position and type. They concluded that as a rule these complications are rare. In the journal… January 2011 by John Ciccone ASCRS Director of Communications ASOA courses approved by ABO continued on page 10 ence together and now there are continuing education credits avail- able for all members of the optical practice; MDs, Opticians, Adminis- trators, Technicians and Nurses, all at one meeting," she added. In response to member requests and highly favorable comments at last year's Congress, ASOA will pres- ent an expanded optical dispensary track in 2011. This is also the first time that a full day of optician certi- fication training has been offered at the ASOA Congress. The ABO Re- view Course prepares opticians for the ABO examination. ABO certifica- tion is recognized in all 50 states ASOA Optical Forum (ABO has approved the optical forum for 12 hours of continuing education credits. The courses listed with an asterisk have been approved for credit.) • 21st Century Processes for the Computerized Optical* • Building a Winning Frame Collection* • Combatting the Online Eyeglasses Threat* • Computerizing Your Optical Dispensary • Managing the Customer's Optical Dispensary Experience* • Designing and Building an Attractive and Functional Dispensary Parts 1&2 • Increasing Your Practice's Capture Rate* • Increasing Your Dispensary's Profitability* • Marketing Your Dispensary Parts 1&2* • Retail Sales Techniques* • Should I Have an Optical Dispensary* • Optical Dispensary Turnarounds Parts 1&2 • Taking Your Dispensary to the Next Level* • Managed Vision Care, Medicare and the Dispensary* • Getting the Most From Your Optical Laboratory: A Panel Discussion Register to attend the Optical Forum, exclusively at the ASOA Congress in San Diego, March, 25-29, 2011 at the San Diego Marriott and Marina.

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